TSP To Address System Transaction Capacity

April 17, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Thrift Savings
Plan (TSP) board members warned that they must be prepared to
deal with a sharp boost in transaction volume in the
retirement savings program for federal workers triggered by a
major market plunge, Govexec.com reported.

The board was responding to the large number of
participants (10%) with investments in the 401(k)-style
plan’s International (I) Fund who made changes to their
accounts following the stock plunge at the end of
February.

According to Govexec.com, the system that processes the
transactions normally operates on about three-fifths of its
capacity, but if the market sees a sudden steep drop, the
system should be turned up to full capacity so that it can
handle four to five times the volume of transactions.

“We have to make sure we are building ourselves up
structurally for increased volume and increased
participants,” TSP Board Chairman Andrew Saul said at a
meeting on Monday. “God forbid that we have a major world
event…we really have to plan for this.”